Also: clearing the decks for an important announcement in August It’s the end of May, which means that too many nonprofit arts organizations are beginning their annual “end of fiscal year” push for additional donations. There’s a lot on the line for these charities to meet their financial revenue goals and stuffing as much asking as you can into that final month might … [Read more...] about Just a Reminder — June 30 Is Only Meaningful to You
Executive Director
I’m Not Angry. I’m Batman.
I’m just trying to help save the nonprofit arts industry from its own worst impulses. Where’s my utility belt, Alfred?! It always happens. Whenever I am asked to speak to a group or I write an article or a book, there are those that get caught in the invectives. They get angry because they feel attacked rather than advised. And inevitably, these are the people in the … [Read more...] about I’m Not Angry. I’m Batman.
“Hope for the Best. Expect the Worst.”
You need to find a way to justify your worth to your community — and at the same time, prepare for bad news, too. The buzz inside your nonprofit arts organization is louder than outside the walls. Much louder. As in, if someone is not completely tuned in to what’s going on at your particular arts organization — either your performances or your impact — they’re just … [Read more...] about “Hope for the Best. Expect the Worst.”
Nonprofit Arts Organizations: Beware “A Little Knowledge”
Forcing data to reach a conclusion causes nonprofit arts organizations to issue pronouncements that just aren’t so. Conclusion I had a friend who had a Ph.D. in Psychobiology. She spent her post-doc work in a lab where, among other experiments, they tested a hypothesis about access to the brain via the olfactory nerve. That particular nerve, one of the key elements of … [Read more...] about Nonprofit Arts Organizations: Beware “A Little Knowledge”
Nonprofit Arts Success in a Changing Environment, Tip 6 — Don’t Talk About It; Do It.
Doing the right thing is always the right thing to do. It’s right there in the phrase. In the new/old world order of Trumpian policy, your arts organization faces the real possibility that, in the face of anti-arts, anti-education, and anti-truth political muckraking euphemistically calling itself “populism,” it will be shut down. The most intelligent thing your nonprofit … [Read more...] about Nonprofit Arts Success in a Changing Environment, Tip 6 — Don’t Talk About It; Do It.